On 15 Aug 2019, the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs and the State Administration of Market Regulation jointly issued the “GB 2763-2019 National Food Safety Standard: Maximum Residue Limits of Pesticides in Foods”, which will take effect on 15 Feb 2020. The one major new feature in this release is that the number of MRLs in GB 2763-2019 for the first time exceeds those developed by Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC standard), the most universally recognized pesticide MRL standard in the world, marking another new step forward in food safety and agricultural trade. In this article, we will explain the evolution if this regulation and introduce its main features based on comparative analysis, sharing some prospects on the future trend of China's pesticide MRL regulation. large Numbers of MRLs for Food Categories Specified by GB 2763-2019 Recent Updates In the past, the former Ministry of Health (now referred to as NHC) was mainly responsible for developing pesticide MRLs in the form of food hygienic safety standards, while the Ministry of Agriculture (now referred to as MoARA) also developed a series of MRLs as quality standards for agricultural commodities. Until 2009, China enacted the Food Safety Law and MoA was designated to develop pesticide MRLs and relevant testing methods. The ministry began to organize the previously disparate MRLs and released the first unified MRL regulation,  GB 2763-2012, which has then been revised amost every 2 years: Development of GB 2763 Series: a Full Timeline Code year of issue Number of Pesticides Number of MRLs GB 2763-2012 2012 322 2293 GB 2763-2014 2014 387 3650 GB 2763-2016

Recently, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs, the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the national MRL standard for veterinary drugs in food, GB 31650-2019. A total of 2197 MRLs for 267 veterinary drugs in animal products will take effect on 1 April 2020, essentially covering the veterinary drugs and animal products used in China.

On 6 Aug 2019, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs disclosed a response to the suggestions and proposals regarding the extension of biopesticides from the NPC deputies. The ministry publicly clarified its policy support to biopesticides and hope this product category can play an expanded role in the national action plans of chemical pesticide substitution and agricultural quality enhancement. In this article, we will introduce China’s concrete efforts toward green development, but most importantly, we hope a contrastive analysis on the data gap between conventional pesticides and 3 typical biopesticides could help agrochemical companies to determine the tactical and effective strategic implementation for the market entry of biopesticides in China.

On 2 Sep 2019, the MoARA’s Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau issued an announcement to solicit opinions on “list of veterinary drug and chemicals prohibited from food-animals”.

On 2 Sep 2019, the Chinese Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs (MoARA) issued the Announcement 210 of 2019 to offer a 6-month extension for the transition between earlier and new labeling requirements for pet food. These measures were taken at the request of pet food producers, who were previously ordered to attach new labels on pet food produced after 1 Sep 2019. MoARA realized the large stocks of old labels and agreed that the old labels attached with additional labels can be allowed for pet food produced prior to 1 Mar 2020. Thereafter, MoARA will take necessary supervisory activities against pet food labels.

On 15 Aug 2019, the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs(MoARA) and the State Administration of Market jointly issued the latest version of GB 2763-2019 and 2 methods for pesticide residue detection,  which will take effect on 15 Feb 2020.

On 17 Jun 2019, China's State Council unveiled the guidance on rural industrial revitalization. This document is an integration, extension, refinement and confirmation of the past agriculture development policies, including precise definition on industrial segments, clear positioning on tasks and responsibilities across multiple ministries/commissions, as well as the supply of financial, land and human resources, aimed at extending the value chain and improving the quality and efficiency of agriculture-related industries.

On 2nd Aug 2019, the MoARA’s Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau issued a missive to all provincial subordinates to recommend 10 disinfectants for African swine fever (ASF) control, which will be officially popularized among hog  all over the country.

On 31 May 2019, China MoARA released the Announcement 179 to designate 9 labs for pesticide registration experimentation.

On 31 May 2019, China MoARA released the Announcement 179 to designate 9 labs for pesticide registration experimentation.